Blues musician Mac Arnold coming to Sumter Library C1 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
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S.C. GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
Trump wins Once the favorite, Bush ends bid for nomination SPARTANBURG (AP) — Donald Trump scored his second straight Republican presidential primary win, rolling to victory in South Carolina on Saturday as voters seething about Washington and politicians helped propel the billionaire businessman past GOP establishment candidates. One of Trump’s favorite targets, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, finally threw in the towel, suspending his campaign after a dismal finish. “Thank you for the opportunity to run for the greatest office on the face of the earth,” an emotional Bush told his supporters. TRUMP Two freshmen senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida — were battling for second place, which would give them bragging rights but might not get them any delegates in the march to the nomination. In a family-affair victory speech, Trump ticked off his policy promises, vowing to terminate President Barack Obama’s health care law and get Mexico to pay for a wall at the border. “We’re going to start winning for our country because our country doesn’t win anymore,” said Trump, with his wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka at his side.
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Jim Bernard glues a line onto a yard arm on the HMS Unicorn ship he is building in his spare time. Bernard only works on the ships during the winter time and they can take several years to hand craft.
A model shipbuilder Sumter man creates detailed reproductions of 18th century vessels BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com
SEE TRUMP, PAGE A7
S
umter resident Jim Bernard has a unique craft he enjoys working on when the weather is bad: building model ships. The replicas, however, are more than just wooden boats; they are scale models of 18th century warships, with noticeable, minute detail. With names of actual ships from the 1700s such as H.M.S. Vanguard, H.M.S. Fly and H.M.S. Unicorn, one would think Bernard, 70, is building a museum of naval warfare. He first caught an interest in model ships while visiting a maritime exhibit at one of the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington, D.C. Bernard, a former station manager of S.C. ETV station WRJA in Sumter, built his first model ship in the late 1960s, just to see if he could do it. In 2007, more than 45 years later, he picked up the hobby again and has been at it ever since. He works on the ships when the weather is too bad to do his other passion, cycling. Bernard cycles as many as 12,000 miles a year. Bernard constructs ships from parts he orders from an Italian company. The only manual he receives are dozens of pages of blueprints, with no written instructions. “It’s a time consuming thing that you have to have patience for, but I really enjoy it,” he said. “It gives me something to do and the satisfaction of being able to hang with it.” Bernard’s ships range in size from 2-feet long and 2-feet high, to 4-feet long and 3-feet high.
Local turnout heavy; results tell same story BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com Large numbers of Sumter County’s Republican population turned out Saturday to cast a vote during the GOP Primary for the candidates they believe are worthy to continue in the highly covered 2016 presidential race. As of 10 p.m. Saturday, a little more than 10,300 people were reported to have made it to the polls in Sumter and nearly 4,300 individuals exercised their right to vote in Clarendon County, according to scvotes.org . Saturday saw approximately 124,000 more of South Carolina’s Republican voters taking to the polls than during the 2012 GOP primaries when approximately 582,000 people cast their vote. The website showed statewide numbers favoring Donald Trump followed by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in second and third place, respectively. Republican voters in Sumter and Clarendon counties mostly reflected statewide numbers with Cruz and Rubio fighting for second and third place until about 9:30 p.m. when Cruz finished as runner up to Trump. Jeb Bush, who suspended his presidential campaign Saturday night, held fast to fourth place in both counties and in the state overall. Jason Reddick, acting chair of Sumter County Republican Party, said he had been to a few polling stations around the Sumter and turn out looked better than the mid-term election. He said Sumter County residents are appreciative of the candidates who have stopped by but could not say if they actually swayed any voters. Reddick was proven to be correct in a statement
SEE LOCAL, PAGE A7
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KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
The HMS Vanguard is 4 feet long by 3 feet tall and took Jim Bernard three years to build from a kit. “It’s not something you can do overnight,” he said. Bernard’s largest ship, a replica of the British H.M.S. Vanguard from 1787, contained a kit of 13 pounds of assembly parts, including wood strips and plans. Each kit includes industrial laser-cut plywood pieces, which help ensure a good frame alignment, Bernard said. He uses a
special wood glue to piece together the ship’s body. Below deck, gun backing strips are then installed. Each deck is individually planked with a specific planking pattern using 80-millimeter, 40-millimeter and 20-millimeter strips. Several hundred strips are required for each deck, he said.
SEE MODEL, PAGE A7
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
WARM AND RAINY
5 SECTIONS, 40 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 108
Very warm today and tonight with strong chance of spotty rain throughout the day.
Business D1 Classifieds D4 Comics E1
Opinion A10 Outdoors D6 Television E3
HIGH 73, LOW 55
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